Call me a lot of things when it comes to being a NBA fan. A Miami Heat bandwagoner? That’s fair. A LeBron James stan? I’d say so. A Boston Celtics hater? With every fiber of my being. However, when I noted Derrick Rose was playing at a MVP-level in November, I meant it. Even with Dwight Howard’s insane last two months, Stan Van Gundy’s moaning and groaning “woe-is-me” antics and Skip Bayless’ campaign for Kobe (and my personal desire to see everyone pissed with LBJ winning a third straight), arguing against the Chicago Bulls’ floor general is comparable to holding a beach ball under water.

Last night, the entire country sat on the edge of their seats thanks in part to a duo of amazing finishes which saw UConn and Butler punch their tickets to the Final Four. The NBA played the undercard. The Bulls made the short trip to Milwaukee last night and by the end of the game, two things were clear. One, Brandon Jennings couldn’t guard Rose if he were attached to him with Velcro. The matchup presented a microcosm of what’s been Rose’s entire season. Regardless of the level of talent he’s faced, Rose has always risen to and pass the occasion making the moment his own. It may not be an official requirement for the Maurice Podoloff Trophy, but every past winner has exhibited this quality.

Secondly, Rose ended the game, which was a comeback victory for Chicago, with 30 points and a career high 17 assists. His last four minutes were even more impressive with 10 points and three dimes. To put those numbers in perspective, the Bulls haven’t seen that caliber of performance since some guy named Jordan posted a 33-17 line in March of 1989. The point guard was five months old at the time.

With only a handful of games left in the season, the night of March 26th may go down as the night Derrick Rose brought the MVP back to the Windy City for the first time since 1998. Now if he can ensure the Bulls end with the same team hardware as they did thirteen postseasons ago…

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Just filthy nasty disgustingly sickening how skilled he is at his size.

03.27.11 at 10:07 pm

Thomas

Rose will get the MVP because he’s playing out of his mind. I seriously think Howard isn’t getting enough looks though. He’s having an amazing season. Will probably be defensive player of the year again and finish with avg’s of 20+ pts, 10+ reb’s, and 60% FG. Only a few ppl have had those #’s in a season.

03.27.11 at 10:11 pm

J. Tinsley

Howard is going to end up 2nd in the MVP votes. His last two months have been completely out of this world. It’s like he finally realized how much he could dominate a game on both ends. If he keeps those techs down and improves his FT percentage, man oh man.

Brandon Jennings couldn’t guard Rose if he were attached to him with Velcro.

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And honestly who can? About 3 months ago I made what I feel like was a solid lobby for Amare Stoudamire 1st MVP seeing how he almost single handedly turned the franchise around, but that seems almost like a thousand years ago with all that’s been going on. The MVP is Derrick Rose’s and has been for a minute right now. LeBron and Wade play TOGETHER so that would completely eliminate one of them being the MOST valuable player on their team seeing how they are almost identical in stats (LeBron does a little more but still). I hear the Kobe argument catching momentum (mainly Skip Bayless), but he’s only in the last two months played what could be considered MVP. Actually, the stats show that when Kobe plays lights-out basketball, the Lakers lose more than they win. D12 would be a good runner up because he’s holding that team together every single night but they lost too much for him to be considered higher. Durant is not there yet but could be next year. But Rose not only dominates the floor every night, he more importantly has led his team to a better record than all the other possible candidates with less tools than pretty much all of them.

Now, somebody just has to do something about that personalty.

03.27.11 at 10:27 pm

bruno aka mynameisjason

D rose all day man. Its blatantly clear now y he did not want any big name free agent comn 2da chi n stealn his thundr lol. Homie is goin gonads on da nba….bulls n 2011

I swear ib ridin wit chi town teams like im frm ther……

03.27.11 at 10:32 pm

bruno aka mynameisjason

@cell
I thnk homie is fine man. He is wht evry nba playr should b. Unassumn n humble. Much like kd mr rose lets his play do da talkn nite n n nite out. Evrythng els is not important….especially pr

03.27.11 at 10:35 pm

Deen

Laker fans are going to love that guy.

^^^

ROFL.

Orlando cats were just getting over Shaq jilting them all those years ago too. At least they have the experience to deal with Dwight bouncing…

03.27.11 at 10:40 pm

ADrake22

Sheer child abuse… call Social Services… XP

03.27.11 at 10:41 pm

J. Tinsley

But Rose not only dominates the floor every night, he more importantly has led his team to a better record than all the other possible candidates with less tools than pretty much all of them.

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Amen. The Bulls are JUST now getting healthy and he has them atop the East. And I know this is beating a dead dog, but…

I just watch the Minnesota and Boston game about an hour ago and I realized one of the worst teams in basketball, in realizing that they have no shot at the playoffs, played one of their best basketball weeks of the season. I saw them go down to the wire with the hot-streaking Lakers and I just watch them unload into a VERY motivated Celtics team and lose by just a few points. It made me think back to this past seasons Vikings and Eagles game that was played on that off day due to the snow, and Brett Favre’s 1st game out. They played the red-hot Philadelphia Eagles with a third string QB and gave them the business. They had no shot at a playoff seat but somehow that made them mentally free enough to go out there and play better than they did all season. It’s just amazing to me HOW mental the game can actually be in such a physical area.

03.27.11 at 11:30 pm

J. Tinsley

I think about that all the time too. But then again, for as good as the “superstars” are, every dude that suits up in the league was ‘that guy’ at some level. Even Brian Scalabrine was a beast somewhere, at sometime.

Amen. The Bulls are JUST now getting healthy and he has them atop the East. And I know this is beating a dead dog, but…
IMAGINE IF THEY HAD A REAL TWO GUARD!!!
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If they had a real two guard, then i’d be thanking the most high for placing my team in the Western Conference. D-Rose is playin like he’s on a mission tho, so maybe the Bogans-Brewer rotation can work out for them. Plus I can’t think of any upcoming free agent two’s anyway.

But I don’t see anybody in the East beating the Bulls in a 7-gamer…I just don’t see it. If the Celts can get their act together then they have a good chance, cause I think the Big 3+1 are hungry for one more before Ainge blows it up next off-season.

Rose is good and he’s gonna be the youngest MVP ever but I see too many people jumping on the bandwagon acting like he’s the next Jordan. I’m curious to see how he does in the playoffs. Bulls ain’t getting past the Celtics though….

I watch a ridiculous amount of basketball…I’m serious..for example i watched the women’s DII NCAA tourney this weekend…Been like this since I was 9, but with all of this time spent watching Jordan and AI were the only players that I felt played the game like the fate of the world was at stake. That’s until I set eyes on D Rose back in his Memphis day. No surprise he’s my favorite player to watch in 2011.

My only bball fan fantasy is to go back in time and watch Oscar Robertson in his days with the Bucks. This may be blasphemy, but I can’t help wonder how Rose and the Big O compare..I hope Rose will go down as legendary as Robertson, and revolutionize how the game is played

Exactly. It’s gonna be his first rodeo against an Eastern conference that is STACKED with playoff experience. Something tells me he’s not ready, but if he keeps playing like this who gives a damn about a “playoff mindset?”

03.28.11 at 10:34 am

PandasFromAnotherComputer

You know Le(horrible adjective) James is putting up the numbers he did last year, when he won MVP. Most media types don’t want to see a back to back MVP if there is new blood in the water. They’ve even admitted as much. Either way, I still feel Rose deserves it. Just that someone needs to play Puffy’s Advocate at times like these to keep things in perspective.

I’m curious to see how he does in the playoffs
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Exactly my thoughts. the greats always have that extra level they can turn on in the playoffs. I cannot wait to see Rose’s extra level.

03.28.11 at 10:49 am

thastrings

the god amen

03.28.11 at 11:13 am

J. Tinsley

@D – I wanted LeBron to go to Chicago. When that week of free agent signings was going on, that was the only place that really made sense to me. Miami just didn’t seem realistic. NY and NJ were just “cool stories.” The Clippers never had a chance. Cleveland hadn’t improved their roster at all. Chicago had all the pieces in the right places.

That being said, the more I look at it, the more I don’t know how Bron and Rose would have meshed in the backcourt. LBJ is a point-forward who thrives with the ball in his hands. Rose is the same way. Could it have worked? Probably so, but knowing how much those two have to have the ball in their hands, it would have been a headache.

Now Joe Johnson on the Bulls is a completely different story.

03.28.11 at 11:31 am

Lil' Nello

Lol @El & yea Tins I know you hate to admit it but when Rose had those games he had a few weeks or about a month ago against Orlando & Miami that 1 weekend is when he actually secured the MVP! Good finish by Rose against Milwaukee the other night though! And hate to say this but as much as I’m still a fan of da Bulls I unlike most are realistic in that they need at least another year or 2 before they win the title because my other team the Lakers are still the team to beat! Also aside from Boston although they didn’t really count cause they where all on other teams for years but every team who has won an NBA title pretty much had to beat someone before winning it all! Wheter it be the Bulls having to get through the Pistons 1st or the Lakers having to get through teams like the Jazz (who people forget) 1st!

03.28.11 at 11:52 am

JOSEXXX

I don’t think it’s about whether he has an extra level or not. Keep in mind, dude had a 36 point playoff debut IN HIS ROOKIE SEASON. Pushed the Celtics to the brink that year too.

The way it’s shaping up, if all the major players play their cards right, we could be looking at a classic second round on both sides.

Yup I bet he does, just like Byron Scott will look at Brian Shaw next year on the Lakers bench and he will start thinking to himself “I should have gone to NBA tv for a year.” lol

D. Rose is the MVP this year. He is playing terrific; but until they get a 2 that can do anything they won’t beat the Celtics in a 7 game series. It will go the entire 7, but the Bulls won’t beat them without consistent play from the 2 guard position. Now if they can get a guard via trade, free agency, and or draft then they will be in position to dominate the East for a long time because Miami has so much money tied into their 3 stars(can’t call them Big 3 till they get the ring) it will be hard for them to get the pieces they need to be championship contenders.

D.Howard is going to be the runner up in the MVP race; but it is not because of anything he did wrong. He has had a great year to this point. His low post game has improved a lot and that was just with a week of instruction with Hakeem. Imagine the improvement if he had spent a month with Hakeem and listened more to Pat Ewing. Cause a lot of the things Hakeem told Dwight were the same things Ewing have been trying to get him to do for the last couple of seasons.

03.28.11 at 12:22 pm

thastrings

Now Joe Johnson on the Bulls is a completely different story.
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word. that’s who i thought the bulls should grab the whole time. way better fit than norbel.

03.28.11 at 1:46 pm

El Rosado

*Rick Ross voice*

RO-ZAY

*grunts*

03.28.11 at 2:05 pm

J. Tinsley

LeBron for MVP! Colin Cowherd agrees with me lol.

03.28.11 at 4:25 pm

Bigga Aka KG wouldn't try that shit with Xavier McDaniels

owherd also believes John Wall is a horrible player because he doesn’t have a daddy. I don’t think you want him on your side. lol

03.28.11 at 6:24 pm

Lil' Nello

Also I’m pretty sure Karl Malone & not MJ took home MVP in 98 Tins but I could be wrong!

03.28.11 at 7:43 pm

benji

rose is getting the mvp, but howard deserves it way more. i cant believe how hard everybody has jumped on the d rose bandwagon. he’s an amazing player for sure, and hella fun to watch, which is why he’ll get the MVP (call it the ESPN factor). But his stats do not tell the same story. the notion that the bulls are trash outside of rose is comical. true, no 2 guard, but with boozer and noah and deng and the fact that they have one of the best defenses is the league (not much thanks to rose on that one), they’re deep as hell. And despite how well rose is playing, his stats do not suggest that he’s “willing the bulls to victory” every time or anything like that. Rose shoots well under 50% and his PER is mad low, like 23. He basically has the same stats as westbrook (rose gets a couple more ppg per game), with a lower PER. howard on the other hand beasts in every single stat category, has the highest PER in the league (tied with bron), shoots an absurd 60%+ from the field, and is gonna win defensive POY. it shouldn’t even be close. but rose is too fun to watch, he’s gonna get it for sure.